A happy homecoming for Father Tim

Five years after retirement due to health, Father Tim Kavanagh is still reeling. What he sees at first as the "yawning indifference" of his church family is hurtful, but time has passed and an exciting trip to Ireland with his wife Cynthia has served to cushion the blow. Still, he finds the idea "to withdraw someplace for the sake of seclusion"—and to stay there—far too inviting.

At home with Father Tim

Millions of readers have lived, laughed and loved alongside the residents of Mitford since the 1990s. After a five-year absence, Jan Karon brings back Father Tim and Cynthia in Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good.

Karon's cookbook is a sumptuous Southern treat

Readers who love a vicarious meal of classic Southern cooking have long felt welcome in Mitford, the fictional North Carolina village that serves as the setting for Jan Karon's popular series. Now, thanks to the lovingly assembled <B>Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader</B>, fans who have gobbled up the Mitford novels for...

Father Tim moves on

Preparing to become a vicar to a rural church closed for nearly 40 years, Father Timothy Kavanagh considers the challenges ahead: "He would still wear his collar and vestments; he would still celebrate the liturgy and perform all the other offices of a priest. So indeed, hardly anything would change." Then he thinks, "And so what if things did change."Father Tim could easily be speaking to Jan Karon's enormous readership: things will indeed change this is the last Mitford novel.

Will Father Tim smile again?

After four years of retirement, Father Tim still hasn't come up with a good answer to the inevitable question, "So what are you doing these days?" He volunteers, chews the fat with the regulars at the Main Street Grill, jogs with his dog Barnabas, tries to keep his diabetes in check and watches his wife Cynthia go into her studio to create award-winning children's books. But Father Tim feels...

edding bells are ringing in Mitford It's been more than a decade since Jan Karon made the leap from an award-winning career as an advertising executive to try her hand at writing. What a wise decision! Since then, her heartwarming, best-selling series about the delightful North Carolina town of Mitford has enchanted the hearts of millions of readers. The first book, At Home in Mitford,...

What is it about rabbits that makes them such great protagonists in children's books? Long ears? Twitching noses? Big eyes? Regardless, generations of us have loved characters such as Peter Rabbit, The Velveteen Rabbit, and the Runaway Bunny. Rabbits have even taken starring roles in adult books. Who can forget the noble Hazel in Richard Adams's Watership Down? Now Jan Karon, author of the...

Audio Column by Sukey Howard

Jan Karon's Mitford series is a phenomenon in just two years, her books have sold over 2.5 million copies, there's a Mitford newsletter, and this summer Hallmark will introduce Mitford greeting cards. In the audio versions of her books (also super-sellers), Ms. Karon reads. That's an added attraction; her sweet Southern voice is the very sound of Mitford and its marvelously warm-hearted...